Loons

Tonight we are staying at a beautiful park near Whitecourt, Alberta. Our campsite has a view of Lake MacLeod. It is chilly and misting rain but we are still having fun.

We hiked some of the trails here. I saw my first loon today. Mom took this picture of him.

A loon is a diving bird. He spends most of his time in the water. He walks very funny when he is on the ground. That is how he got his name, because he walks "loony."

Loons are diving birds. They can dive very deep in the water. They can dive over 260 feet and stay down for over a minute.

Loons are best known for their beautiful call or yodel. If you would like to hear a loon's call, just click here: http://www.ns.ec.gc.ca/wildlife/loons/sounds/yodel.wav Tonight we will sleep to the lullabye of the loons.

To learn more about loons, visit http://www.northwestwildlife.com/articles/Loon.pdf